Vanderbilt Tops East Carolina 4-1 To Advance to Omaha
(13)East Carolina entered Saturday’s game in desperate need of a victory to extend the Nashville Super Regional series but came up short in a 4-1 loss to (4)Vanderbilt.
“We went toe to toe with one of the best teams in the country. We just weren’t quite as good as them. Rocker and Leiter were just a little bit better than Gavin, Whisenhunt and our bullpen,” ECU head coach Cliff Godwin said, “Their bullpen guys too, they were just a tick better. We were in every game. We just couldn’t get a big hit. They got a big hit by Young today, a two-run RBI. We just got one swing off and that was the difference in the game.”
Carson Whisenhunt(6-2) proved to be effective in his four and a third innings on the mound for ECU. He absorbed the loss giving up just a pair of hits with three strikeouts and three walks in 62 pitches before Matt Bridges came on in relief.
“We had guys in the bullpen and if you don’t win you go home. We wanted to make sure that we went to our best bullpen guys which we did. Bridgey was really good. I thought everybody we ran out there was really good. They just got four two-out RBI’s and we got one home run so that was the difference in the game.
The two teams remained scoreless until the fifth frame when Carter Young’s base hit to right center off of Bridges scored two Commodore runs for a 2-0 lead.
Josh Moylan finally got ECU(43-17) on the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh inning with his sixth home run of the season off of Jack Leiter(10-3) to cut the Vanderbilt lead in half. It was the Pirates first run in 15 innings in Nashville.
But Leiter gave up just two hits in seven innings of work with ten strikeouts for Vanderbilt(44-15).
C.J. Mayhue came on in relief of Bridges the top of the eighth for the Pirates to retire the side. Then right-hander Nick Maldonado came on in the bottom of the eighth to provide 1-2-3 innings over the next two innings in relief to shut the door for the Vanderbilt to pick up his eighth save.
Cam Colmore entered the game in the top of the ninth to pitch for the Pirates where Enrique Bradford’s two out double scored an insurance run to make it 3-1 before a bases loaded walk made it 4-1. Cliff Godwin then turned to A.J. Wilson on the mound who retired Troy LaNeve on a pop fly to center to end the inning.
The Pirates had one more opportunity but came up short in the bottom of the ninth. With the win, Vanderbilt advances to the College World Series in Omaha.
“As great as it is on this side it’s very difficult on the other side too, but they’re such a good team in so many different ways. It means we had to be extra special on our side. Because they were such a good team, we needed a very good pitching performance” said Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin.
“It’s very difficult to follow one great pitching performance because the resistance you’re going to find from the other team. Jack (Leiter) has done that throughout the year. He is as good as it gets," said Corbin, "He’s a competitive, competitive kid with good stuff and he too loves the arena of competition. That was primary. That had to happen for us to have a chance to allow us to score a few runs.”
With the loss, ECU completes a solid nationally ranked season while falling to 1-12 in Super Regional NCAA baseball games all time, most of which have occurred on the road where the hill to climb is steep and the percentages are extremely low for the road team.
“It is what it is. You go on the road and we’ve been on the road every time for a Super Regional except 2001 and we weren’t at our home field, we were just in Kinston,” said Godwin, “So it makes it more difficult to win on the road. I think it’s 70 to 75 percent of the teams that host go to Omaha. That doesn’t mean you can’t do it on the road. I’ve always envisioned that we’d do it at Clark-LeClair for our fans. It is what it is and we came on the road and we just weren’t quite good enough.”
